Historical Dictionary of Iraq

536 Pages·2004·2.97 MB·English

by  Beth Dougherty

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Historical Dictionaries of Asia,
Oceania, and the Middle East
Edited by Jon Woronoff
Asia
1. Vietnam, by William J. Duiker. 1989. Out of print. See No. 27.
2. Bangladesh, 2nd ed., by Craig Baxter and Syedur Rahman. 1996. Out of
print. See No.48.
3. Pakistan, by Shahid Javed Burki. 1991. Out of print. See No. 33.
4. Jordan, by Peter Gubser. 1991
5. Afghanistan, by Ludwig W. Adamec. 1991. Out of print. See No. 29.
6. Laos, by Martin Stuart-Fox and Mary Kooyman. 1992. Out of print. See
No. 35.
7. Singapore, by K. Mulliner and Lian The-Mulliner. 1991
8. Israel, by Bernard Reich. 1992
9. Indonesia, by Robert Cribb. 1992
10. Hong Kong and Macau, by Elfed Vaughan Roberts, Sum Ngai Ling, and
Peter Bradshaw. 1992
11. Korea, by Andrew C. Nahm. 1993
12. Taiwan, by John F. Copper. 1993. Out of print. See No. 34.
13. Malaysia, by Amarjit Kaur. 1993. Out of print. See No. 36.
14. Saudi Arabia, by J. E. Peterson. 1993. Out of print. See No. 45.
15. Myanmar, by Jan Becka. 1995
16. Iran, by John H. Lorentz. 1995
17. Yemen, by Robert D. Burrowes. 1995
18. Thailand, by May Kyi Win and Harold Smith. 1995
19. Mongolia, by Alan J. K. Sanders. 1996. Out of print. See No. 42.
20. India, by Surjit Mansingh. 1996
21. Gulf Arab States, by Malcolm C. Peck. 1996
22. Syria, by David Commins. 1996
23. Palestine, by Nafez Y. Nazzal and Laila A. Nazzal. 1997
24. Philippines, by Artemio R. Guillermo and May Kyi Win. 1997
Oceania
1. Australia, by James C. Docherty. 1992. Out of print. See No. 32.
2. Polynesia, by Robert D. Craig. 1993. Out of print. See No. 39.
3. Guam and Micronesia, by William Wuerch and Dirk Ballendorf. 1994
4. Papua New Guinea, by Ann Turner. 1994. Out of print. See No. 37.
5. New Zealand, by Keith Jackson and Alan McRobie. 1996
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New Combined Series
25. Brunei Darussalam, by D. S. Ranjit Singh and Jatswan S. Sidhu. 1997
26. Sri Lanka, by S. W. R. de A. Samarasinghe and Vidyamali Samarasinghe.
1998
27. Vietnam, 2nd ed., by William J. Duiker. 1998
28. People’s Republic of China:1949–1997, by Lawrence R. Sullivan, with
the assistance of Nancy Hearst. 1998
29. Afghanistan, 2nd ed., by Ludwig W. Adamec. 1997. Out of print. See No.
47.
30. Lebanon, by As’ad AbuKhalil. 1998
31. Azerbaijan, by Tadeusz Swietochowski and Brian C. Collins. 1999
32. Australia, 2nd ed., by James C. Docherty. 1999
33. Pakistan, 2nd ed., by Shahid Javed Burki. 1999
34. Taiwan (Republic of China), 2nd ed., by John F. Copper. 2000
35. Laos, 2nd ed., by Martin Stuart-Fox. 2001
36. Malaysia, 2nd ed.,by Amarjit Kaur. 2001
37. Papua New Guinea, 2nd ed.,by Ann Turner. 2001
38. Tajikistan, by Kamoludin Abdullaev and Shahram Akbarzedeh. 2002
39. Polynesia,2nd ed., by Robert D. Craig. 2002
40. North Korea,by Ilpyong J. Kim. 2003
41. Armenia,by Rouben Paul Adalian. 2002
42. Mongolia, 2nd ed., by Alan J. K. Sanders. 2003
43. Cambodia,by Justin Corfield and Laura Summers. 2003
44. Iraq, by Edmund A. Ghareeb. 2004
45. Saudi Arabia, 2nd ed., by J. E. Peterson. 2003
46. Nepal,by Nanda R. Shrestha and Keshav Bhattarai. 2003
47. Afghanistan, 3rd ed., by Ludwig W. Adamec. 2003
48. Bangladesh,3rd ed., by Craig Baxter and Syedur Rahman. 2003
49. Kyrgyzstan,by Rafis Abazov. 2004
50. Syria, 2nd ed., by David Commins. 2004
51. Indonesia, 2nd ed., by Robert Cribb and Audrey Kahin. 2004
52. Republic of Korea, 2nd ed., by Andrew C. Nahm and James E. Hoare.
2004
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Historical Dictionary
of Iraq
Edmund A. Ghareeb
With the assistance of
Beth Dougherty
Historical Dictionaries of Asia,
Oceania, and the Middle East, No. 44
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Lanham, Maryland, and Oxford
2004
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SCARECROWPRESS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Awholly owned subsidiary of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.scarecrowpress.com
PO Box 317
Oxford
OX2 9RU, UK
Copyright ©2004 by Edmund A. Ghareeb
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ghareeb, Edmund.
Historical dictionary of Iraq / Edmund A. Ghareeb. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East ; no. 44)
ISBN 0-8108-4330-7
1. Iraq–History. I. Title. II. Series.
DS70.9 .G47 2004
956.7–dc21 2003011526
∞
™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
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Contents
Editor’s Foreword, by John Woronoff vii
Preface ix
Acronyms and Abbreviations xi
Maps xiii
Chronology xv
Introduction xxxvii
THE DICTIONARY 1
UN Resolutions 253
Appendix A: Iraqi Cabinets 337
Appendix B: Revolutionary Command Councils, 1968–2003 385
Appendix C: Regional Commands, 1966–2003 389
Appendix D: Media in Post-War ‘Iraq 393
Appendix E: Important ‘Iraqis in Post-War ‘Iraq 401
Bibliography 409
Epilogue 437
About the Authors 459
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Editor’s Foreword
Over the past decade or so, and especially since the Gulf War, there has been
a tendency for the focus on Iraq to get narrower and narrower. Indeed, many
foreign politicians, aided and abetted by the media, seem to equate it to one
man: Saddam Husayn. Although he might not mind this, Iraq is infinitely
larger and more varied. In fact, it is a fairly big country, with a substantial pop-
ulation coming from diverse origins and holding diverse views, whether or not
they could be expressed openly. Indeed, more than might be expected, oppo-
sition does exist. And hidden dissension, not blind obedience, seems to have
the longer tradition just as discord frequently overshadowed any cohesion.
Now that a new, and hopefully happier, era has begun, it is time to look back
on the past, with its countless twists and turns, to fathom how Iraq will evolve
in the future.
The focus of this historical dictionary of Iraq is broad—impressively so. It
reaches all the way back to the earliest civilizations and refers to the many, of-
ten less glorious periods that followed. It presents those who created empires
and regimes, and those who overthrew or sought to undo them. It sheds lights
on many social, religious, cultural, and economic groups and the institutions
that were forged to hold them together, albeit not always effectively. And it cul-
minates with the fall of the Ba’th regime.
This broad view is obviously more helpful than the old narrow focus. It is re-
flected through numerous dictionary entries on persons, places and events, or-
ganizations and institutions, and economic, social, and religious phenomena. The
chronology, vital in this case, traces one of the world’s longest histories. The bib-
liography permits even broader reading.
This impressively broad presentation of Iraq was written by Edmund Gha-
reeb and Beth Dougherty, who collaborated closely with him. As a journalist,
Dr. Ghareeb followed and wrote on events in the Middle East, including Iraq.
Since 1982, as an academic, he has been lecturing and writing on the same
topics, with an emphasis on Kurdish studies. He has taught at the American
University, where he is at present, along with Georgetown University and
others.
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viii • EDITOR’S FOREWORD
Beth Dougherty is a professor of international relations at Beloit College,
where she also specializes in Middle East affairs. Together they have formed an
inimitable team who have produced this unique and very long-awaited Histor-
ical Dictionary of Iraq.
Jon Woronoff
Series Editor
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Preface
The general purpose of this dictionary is to cover a number of diverse subjects
ranging from the history of ancient Mesopotamia to the ‘Abbasid Empire to
present-day Iraq . It includes a historical overview, a country profile, the econ-
omy, oil, fauna, political institution, the Iran–‘Iraq war, the Kuwait invasion,
and the second Gulf War and other conflicts. It also covers the major ethnic
groups such as the Kurds, the Turkumans and the Assyrians, Islam and Muslim
sects, Christianity and Christian sects, as well as other religious groups. The
dictionary highlights the main political, religious, and ideological parties,
groups, and organizations; major historical personalities; languages; literature;
culture; a comprehensive bibliography; and other topics. We have also dealt
with a broad range of topics both ancient and modern.
Since the standard way of transliterating Arabic requires acute and grave ac-
cents and other diacritical marks that are not generally used by most Western
writers and media, we have tried for simplicity’s sake to avoid them. For the
three Arabic vowels a, i, and uthat are not usually written when they are short,
we have used these letters. We also tended to write Musliminstead of Moslem,
Tariqinstead of Tarik, and Husayninstead of Hussein. The Arabic letter ‘Ayn
is represented by an ‘ in words such as ‘Abbas or Ba’th but is omitted from
names or words that are regularly used without it in the West or by the persons
themselves. The hamza, a glottal stop, has generally been omitted. We have
also tried to write words and letters in accordance with the standard Arabic pro-
nunciation, such as the letter q instead of k for the letter qaf—for example,
Baqir, not Bakeror Bakir. The letters ghis used for the letter ghaynin Bagh-
dadinstead of Bagdad.
We would like to express our thanks to a number of colleagues, friends, and
students far too numerous to mention each by name who have provided us with
information or who typed part of the work. We are also grateful for the infor-
mation provided by a number of Iraqi public and private figures, Arabs, Kurds,
Assyrians, and Chaldeans as well as others. Aspecial word of thanks goes to
Jon Woronoff for his thoughtful comments, suggestions, and, more important,
his patience.
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